Wednesday 18th July Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, It was nice to talk to the madhouse on the webcam (you know who you are) Took the 90 minute drive South to Rotorua, the home of Geothermal activity and smelly sulphur. Our first stop on the way was Skyline Skyrides on the top of Mount Ngongotaha (778m) but we got as far as the lookout at 487m. You had to take the gondola up to admire the views across Lake Rotorua to Mokoia Island (famous in Maori history,...

Today started out with lovely sunshine which was a change for the better so we headed of early to Otorohanga, which is a lovely town where we visited the kiwi house a conservation project which cares for and breeds endangered indigenous animals and birds. We saw two Kiwis which were amazing, much bigger than we expected and they looked almost fluffly so cute. We followed this with a visit to the Kea's and Kaka's members of the parrot family. Luck was with us toda...

The weather has turned again and it was raining and blowing a gale again in Whitianga so we decided to spend the morning bone carving. It was going to take 3 hours and we hoped the rain would stop. Firstly you had to cut the basic shape and then round the edges using a grinder. Once the shape was formed you had to spend 20 minutes sanding it then another 20 minutes sanding with water before finally polishing up the bone. Mel made a traditional Maori fish hook a...

Well what a surprise woke up in Whangerei and there was no rain just brilliant sunshine After having a conversation with the owner of the motel I convinced Mel that we should visit the Maori Museum at Matakohe, so off we set it was a small detour but we both thought that it would be worth the effort. As we got closer it became apparent that I had misheard the lady and the Maori Museum was in fact the Kauri Museum (NZ's big native trees!!!!) Since we made the ...

Since our post yesterday the weather has got slightly better but it is still really bad with lots of rain and high winds!!!!! We decided to head to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds this morning, this is where the Maori and the British signed the treaty for 2 peoples to live and work together as one nation on February 6 1840. There is also a 35 metre canoe (Ngatokimatawhaonua) that needs a minimum of 76 paddlers to handle it safely and was carved for the centennial ...